The Celtics knew this six-game road trip – with several beatable opponents – was important as they try to build good habits and fix some of their glaring issues as the playoffs loom.
But if Saturday’s win over the Hawks was an encouraging sign, Monday was a major step in the opposite direction.
The Celtics have suffered some puzzling losses to inferior opponents this season and Monday’s defeat is easily among the worst of the season, especially at this stage of the year. The C’s didn’t start the night with the right energy and their bad habits and deficiencies were on display in ugly fashion in a costly, inexcusable 111-109 loss to the Houston Rockets, who are dead last in the Western Conference with 52 losses and already officially eliminated from the playoff picture, and who the Celtics pummeled by 24 back in December.
Forget the No. 1 seed. At this rate, the Celtics will be fighting over their final 13 games just to maintain the No. 2 seed, which they lead by just one game over the 76ers.
Jaylen Brown scored 43 points, and it would have been worse without him. The Celtics trailed by 11 with less than five minutes to go and fought back, but couldn’t complete the comeback. Down two with seven seconds left, Joe Mazzulla drew up a play and put the ball in Jayson Tatum’s hands, but the Celtics star missed a layup at the buzzer to seal the loss.
The Celtics were atrocious from 3-point range, finishing 12-for-42 and 28.9 percent from deep. They fell to 11-17 this season when they shoot less than 35 percent from long range. But, Mazzulla was focused on the margins that continue to cost the Celtics games.
The Celtics were once again out-hustled on the glass, where they gave up 15 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points to the young and athletic Rockets. They were beaten at the free-throw line. And they coughed up 13 turnovers, including four each from Tatum and Marcus Smart.
“Those are concerning, the margins,” Mazzulla told reporters in Houston. “That’s playoff basketball at its finest, is the ability to win those situations, so it’s concerning that we’re inconsistent in that. We have to be committed to those regardless of who we’re playing, regardless of the situation, regardless of how many games are left. It doesn’t matter. You have to be committed to those.”
While Brown was the best player on the floor for the first half, Tatum started 3-for-12 from the field and was 1-for-7 from 3 at halftime and his performance represented a lackadaisical start from the C’s, who gave up 13 second-chance points in the first half. Tatum responded with 13 points in the third, but the bad habits continued and they still trailed entering the fourth.
It was an uphill climb from there. Tatum took the blame.
“(The effort) wasn’t too great,” Tatum told reporters. “We picked it up too late. I take the blame for that. I didn’t necessarily start the best, and I feel like that kind of spread throughout the team. I have to be better to start the game, just from an energy level of being active out there. Towards the end of the game, when we were trying to come back and damn near trying to be perfect, and a couple turnovers or they were hitting shots, they were already in a rhythm. That starts from the beginning, so I have to be better. We have to be better to start.”
The C’s seemed to turn a corner late as they picked up some energy on the defensive end. Al Horford drew a jump ball that led to a three-point play for Malcolm Brogdon. Smart was then fouled on the free-throw attempt and he made one to make it a one-point game with 1:44 left.
Down three with 52 seconds to go, Brown was fouled while shooting a pull-up 3-pointer. But he missed the first free throw and made the next two to cut the deficit back to one. On the ensuing Houston possession, the Celtics’ worst flaw reared its ugly head again. Kenyon Martin Jr. missed a 3-pointer, but corralled his own rebound.
The Celtics then forced a turnover on Jalen Green, but with the ball rolling out of bounds, Tatum tried saving it by attempting a behind-the-back pass down the court to Brown and it was off target. Kevin Porter Jr. got the ball, the shot clock didn’t reset, and Green made both free throws after being fouled.
Mazzulla called timeout and drew up a play for Brown, who drove for a layup to make it 110-109. Jabari Smith Jr. then made one of two free throws, but Tatum’s game-tying attempt fell off the rim.
It was too little, too late for these flawed Celtics.
“The threes, people like to talk about those. Free throws, offensive rebounds, second-chance points and turnovers. That’s the game. That’s every game,” Mazzulla said. “Those margins are extremely important. I don’t care if you shoot half-court shots. If you don’t win those three margins, you’re not going to win many basketball games. When we’re at our best, we do that, and when we’re inconsistent, we don’t do that. We have to be committed to those.”